Alexander Raymond was born Oct. 2, 1909 and died September 6, 1956 at the young age of 47 while driving his sports car. He lost control of the car crashed into a tree and overturned the car.

Aside from the ever popular Flash Gordon he also created Jungle Jim, Rip Kirby for King Features Syndicate.

"I decided that comic art work is an art form in itself. It reflects the life and times more accurately and is more creative. A comic artist is a playwright, director, editor, and artist...all at once." - Alexander Raymond.

Flash Gordon (1980): Well, they tried...they really tried to make a movie here...it's kind of campy and oddly fun...and it has the great line: "Flash, Flash, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!" - Dale Arden (Melody Anderson).
New York football star Flash Gordon (played by Sam J. Jones) vaults into outer space to battle the nefarious Ming (Max Von Sydow), supreme ruler of the planet Mongo. Ming intends to conquer planet earth, and hunky Flash teams up with several of his daring female admirers, as well as the brilliant Dr. Zarkov, in an effort to thwart the monomaniacal evil-doer. What is truly cool about this movie is the excellent score by Queen!

NOTE: They keep re-packaging these titles below and giving them different names so it would be very easy to purchase the same title twice unless you are careful. My advice if you want such a thing...Buy the box set and avoid all the individual packages and you are in pretty good shape. The only one that should be purchased outside of the box set is Flash Gordon - Peril From Planet Mongo from 1966. Don't say I didn't try to warn you!

Flash Gordon - Conquers The Universe (1940): The earth is dying! A rocket hovering over the planet is dropping purple dust into the atmosphere, causing instant death! Blasting off to save humanity are Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), Dale Arden (Carol Hughes) and Dr. Hans Zarkov (Frank Shannon), three interplanetary adventurers who head back to Mongo, the source of the plague. Upon landing, Flash discovers that none other than their arch enemy, Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton), is the madman behind the carnage. He also learns of Polarite -- the antidote to the death dust -- which can only be found in the mountainous wastelands of frozen Frigia. Eluding imminent capture, Flash and his comrades head north, closely pursued by Ming's soldiers who have been ordered to stop the heroic Earthman, no matter what the cost.
Chapter One: The Purple Death
Chapter Two: Freezing Torture
Chapter Three: Walking Bombs
Chapter Four: The Destroying Ray
Chapter Five: The Palace Of Terror
Chapter Six: Flaming Death
Chapter Seven: The Land Of The Dead
Chapter Eight: The Fiery Abyss
Chapter Nine: The Pool Of Death
Chapter Ten: The Death Mist
Chapter Eleven: Stark Treachery
Chapter Twelve: Doom of the Dictator

Flash Gordon - Trip To Mars (1938): Sounds oddly like Conquers the Universe...doesn't it? Life on Earth is about to be destroyed! A mysterious beam of light -- emanating from Mars -- is sucking the nitrogen from the planet's atmosphere, and only Flash Gordon ("Buster" Crabbe) can stop it. Blasting off with Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) and Dr. Hans Zarkov (Frank Shannon), Flash and his intrepid band of adventurers quickly learn that Queen Azura (Beatrice Roberts), ruler of Mars, is stealing Earth's nitrogen to aid in her ongoing war with the Clay People. They are martians whom Azura magically turned into living mud. A bigger surprise, however, is yet to come...working closely with the Queen is Flash's mortal enemy, Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton), who -- while posing as Azura's ally -- is secretly plotting to overthrow the Queen and seize Mars for himself!

Flash Gordon - Space Soldiers (1936): Humanity is doomed to destruction! A distant planet has broken its orbit and is headed straight toward the Earth. While Dr. Hans Zarkov (Frank Shannon) works feverishly to finish a rocketship of his own design, internationally renowned polo player and Yale graduate Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe) is a passenger on a small plane where he meets fellow traveler, Dale Arden (Jean Rogers). When a meteor storm destroys their aircraft, Flash and Dale bail out and land near Zarkov's ship. The great scientist enlists them to join him on his quest to save Earth and the heroic trio blasts off into space to rendezvous with the runaway planet - Mongo.

Flash Gordon - Spaceship to the Unknown (1936): See the above because it simply the same material repackaged under a different name. So be careful and only buy it once.

Flash Gordon - The Deadly Ray From Mars (1938): The Earth is being ravaged by mysterious floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. After blasting off in a rocket ship, Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov discover that the source of the destruction is a mysterious ray emanating from the planet Mars. Flying to the rescue, Flash and his friends must overcome the cruel and beautiful Queen Azura and the legions of Claymen and Treemen of Mars. But lurking behind Azura's deadly schemes is the real culprit, Flash's archrival Ming the Merciless! Once again Flash must struggle against incredible odds to save the Earth from almost certain doom. But will he be in time?
AGAIN - sounds suspiciously like the previously released Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe...if anyone can let me know if they are different stories...please write as at the email address below!

Flash Gordon - Peril From Planet Mongo (1966): Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov return to Mongo on a special mission at the request of Barin, their friend from Arboria. His kingdom is being threatened by Emperor Ming's heat projectiles. Once on Mongo, Flash is able to extinguish the heat projectiles by using one of Dr. Zarkov's contra-thermal units. But Ming the Merciless has plans far more devastating for Arboria and even threatens to send a rocketship full of explosives to Earth. Soon Flash is faced with trying to save both Arboria and Earth! It looks like it's curtains for all decent humans everywhere. Climb aboard and join Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov in the struggle to preserve justice and freedom in our universe!

Flash Gordon - The Purple Death From Outerspace: Be careful...either get this one or Conquers the Universe...not both because they are essentially the same thing.
The people of Earth are succumbing to a mysterious and lethal disease which leaves a curious purple spot on the victims' foreheads. Acting on a hunch, Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov blast off in a rocketship in search of answers and discover a spaceship spraying purple dust into Earth's atmosphere. Commanding the spaceship is none other than Ming the Merciless, ruler of the planet Mongo! From a thrilling aerial duel, Flash and his friends are catapulted into high adventure, battling monstrous mechanical men in the frozen wastes on the planet Frigia. They must find the antidote to the deadly dust and stop the devious designs of the power-mad Ming while there is still an Earth left to save! This is a feature-length edited version of Chapters 1-6 of the 1940 serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.